Floodwaters pushed into a Horizon City neighborhood Monday evening, forcing the evacuation of seven homes in the Lakeway area north of town as crews scrambled to figure out where the water was coming from. The flooding was first reported near Kila Street and Horizon Boulevard, prompting a swift response from fire crews, sheriff's deputies and county road workers.
The Horizon Fire Department said it was responding to several calls of flooding along Horizon Boulevard on Monday, according to KVIA. The department said the flooding happened specifically on Kila Street off Horizon Boulevard, and it activated the Office of Emergency Management while crews worked to assess the damage and pin down the source of the water.
Separately, KTSM reported that seven homes were being evacuated Monday evening due to flooding in the neighborhood north of Horizon, with the water hitting the Lakeway area in the vicinity of Horizon and Kila. Deputies and fire personnel were on scene assessing the area, the station reported. As of Monday afternoon, the El Paso County Sheriff's Office confirmed that seven homes had been evacuated, according to KFOX14/CBS4, whose reporting on the evacuations was authored by David Ibave.
Crews Converge as Officials Search for a Cause
Crews with county roads and bridges were also activated and responding to the flooding, per the same KVIA account of Monday's response. Authorities worked to determine what caused the sudden inundation, according to KFOX14/CBS4's reporting, and a spokesperson for the El Paso County Sheriff's Office said officials believe the flooding may be due to a breached dam in a desert area — an explanation attributed to that spokesperson and not independently confirmed elsewhere.
A National Weather Service Flash Flood Warning covering East Central El Paso County, including Horizon City, was in effect until 2:45 a.m. MDT, reporting that flash flooding was already occurring, according to a weather alert compiled by defconlevel.com. That alert said between 1.5 and 3.5 inches of rain had already fallen, with up to half an inch more possible.
Part of a Wider Pattern Across El Paso County
Part of a Wider Pattern Across El Paso County The Horizon City flooding came just one day after a similar scene played out across the county. Flooding near Dawnlight in west El Paso led to the evacuation of 16 homes, according to KVIA. In that incident, the City of El Paso's Office of Emergency Management activated its Emergency Operations Center at Level 3, Increased Readiness, while crews carried out a water rescue involving a car on South Desert Boulevard with no injuries reported.
The Red Cross and Sun Metro were called in to help affected families and with evacuations during the west El Paso flooding, and El Paso Water sent water vacuum trucks to help manage the runoff, the station reported. It is not known whether similar outside assistance was requested for the Horizon City evacuations.
Flood Maps Already on the Table
Flood Maps Already on the Table Even before this week's storms, FEMA had released preliminary flood maps for Horizon City and El Paso County. The agency's interactive viewer displays both preliminary and existing flood zones across the county, according to the Town of Horizon City. It remains unclear how the newly mapped zones align with the Lakeway area hit by Monday's flooding.
